Rising demand for fossil fuels, exasperated by rapidly developing nations, is driving the need for more efficient utilization of limited natural resources in conjunction with the development of alternative energy sources. Many modern advances in long utilized petrochemical practices such as gasification and hydrotreatment are enabling the cost effective utilization of so called unconventional fuels. Hybrid designs enable the conversion of non-conventional fuels such as coal and natural gas as well as biomass and waste to be converted to direct replacements or additives for petrochemicals conventionally derived from oil. Light hydrocarbons produced during this conversion process can be utilized in clean burning peak generation or fed back into the upgrading process. Still other designs are capable of utilizing carbon dioxide as a carbon source for conversion to synthetic fuels, oils, and other carbon materials.
These practices do have substantial costs involved however. Capital costs of equipment as well as further energy costs are incurred depending on the chosen technology and level of carbon dioxide management sought. The reliance on air separation techniques common in high efficiency and especially carbon sequestration applications is one substantial cost. Further notable costs of such systems are hydrogen production methods that typically rely on direct oxidation of fuel inputs which in turn puts a greater load on carbon capture systems. An alternative method of hydrogen production via electrolysis is emissions free, but even with onsite electricity production represents a steep energy penalty. Even state of the art staged reforming processes coupled to numerous complementary subsystems rely to a large extent on legacy practices of energy production through direct oxidation and may or may not manage the resulting carbon dioxide produced. What is needed is a superstructure that takes advantage of the level of maturity of such legacy processes while integrating advances in alternative energy sources.